Paul Slotsema's travels with the United States Merchant Marine Academy have taken him around the world, from the sprawling shipyards of Charleston, S.C., to the tropical beaches of the Hawaiian Islands.

None, the 27-year-old Grand Rapids resident says, compares with the pristine beauty of the eastern Lake Michigan shoreline near Pentwater.

"It's just kind of sacred," said Slotsema, who from May until September often spends his weekends at his grandfather's cottage in Pentwater. "Our families have just spent so much time in that region - it's just really personal to us."

But Slotsema says that natural beauty is being threatened by a Norwegian wind energy developer's proposal to place up to 200 wind turbines offshore - some of which could reach 450 feet into the air - on a 100-square-mile stretch of Lake Michigan from Ludington to Silver Lake State Park in Mears.

Along with a growing group of lakeshore residents, he's vowing to... [continue via Web link]